Sara Wechter

Heading up human resources at one of the Big Four banks is no small task. No stranger to Citi, Wechter worked her way up the ranks from analyst in 2004 to stepping into her current role as global head of human resources two years ago. When the pandemic hit, a migration to remote work for the bank’s 200,000 strong required some adjustments, and Wechter helped enhance the firm’s virtual health offerings like free telemedicine, virtual therapy, live-streamed meditation sessions, and on-demand fitness classes to help staff weather the new world of work from home. Since she took the helm, Wechter has focused on examining and addressing diversity within the bank: Citi publicly shared its diversity goals for women and U.S. Black talent in 2018, and disclosed raw pay gap data for women and minorities in 2019—the first big bank to volunteer its global stats. While the numbers show a wide gap, since last year, it has closed slightly, with women making 73% of what male colleagues made and U.S. minorities making 94% of what their nonminority peers made, up from 71% and 93% the year before.